Bush asks for $87B

WASHINGTON -- President Bush said Sunday night he will ask Congress for $87 billion to fight terrorism in Iraq and Afghanistan, appealing for troops and money from other countries, even those who opposed the U.S.-led war.

DEB RIECHMANN

Published
12:00 am EDT, Monday, September 8, 2003

Bush, in a 15-minute nationally televised speech from the Cabinet Room, said the United States would not intimidated into retreat by violence.

"The terrorists have cited the examples of Beirut and Somalia, claiming that if you inflict harm on Americans we will run from a challenge," Bush said. "In this they are mistaken."

Bush spoke just four days before the anniversary of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. Seeking support for his policy, he said, "The surest way to avoid attacks on our own people is to engage the enemy where he lives and plans.

"We are fighting that enemy in Iraq and Afghanistan today, so that we do not meet him again on our own streets, in our own cities."

Bush addressed the nation from the Cabinet Room in his first major speech on Iraq since May 1 when he stood on the deck of the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln and declared an end to major combat operations. Since then, more Americans have died in Iraq than were killed during the war. The overall death count is 287 -- 149 since May 1.

The violence -- including four major bombing attacks in a month -- have raised alarms about Bush's handling of Iraq. Republicans and Democrats alike have urged Bush to change course and seek more troops and money from other countries.

Questions also have been fueled by the administration's failure to find any of Saddam Hussein's alleged illegal weapons or Saddam himself.

Bush said Iraq and the Middle East are critical to winning the global war on terror. Bush's plan for Mideast plan appeared to be unraveling after Saturday's resignation of Mahmoud Abbas, the U.S.-backed Palestinian prime minister.

Bush described Iraq as the central front in the war against terror and said that "enemies of freedom are making a desperate stand there, and there they must be defeated.

"This will take time and require sacrifice," he said. "Yet we will do what is necessary, we will spend what is necessary, to achieve this essential victory in the war on terror, to promote freedom and to make our own nation more secure."

Bush said the current number of U.S. troops in Iraq -- 130,000 -- is sufficient but that more foreign troops are needed. He said two multinational divisions, led by Britain and Poland, are serving alongside the United States, and that American commanders have requested a third multinational division.

Some countries have asked for an explicit U.N. peacekeeping authorization, and Bush said Secretary of State Colin Powell would seek a Security Council resolution to authorize deployment of new forces.

Pressed by Democrats and Republicans alike for a pricetag for Iraq, Bush said he would ask Congress for $87 billion for the next fiscal year.

Of that amount, he said, $66 billion would be earmarked for military and intelligence operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.

While the United States has shouldered the burden of the effort in Iraq, Bush said other nations will be asked to help. He said Powell would meet with representatives of many countries later this month to seek contributions for rebuilding Afghanistan. Next month, Powell will hold a similar funding conference for Iraq.

"Europe, Japan and states in the Middle East all will benefit from the success of freedom in those two countries, and they should contribute to that success," Bush said.

Bush said that Iraq was under siege from former loyalists of Saddam Hussein and foreign terrorists who have come to Iraq to pursue their war against the United States.

"We cannot be certain to what extent these groups work together," the president said. "We do know they have a common goal: reclaiming Iraq for tyranny."

Public support for Bush's policy has slipped since the war but has leveled off in the mid 50s, polls show.

Appealing to Americans' patriotism, Bush said the United States has "done this kind of work before. Following World War II, we lifted up the defeated nations of Japan and Germany and stood with them as they built representative governments. We committed years and resources to this cause."

He said U.S. strategy in Iraq has three objectives: "destroying the terrorists, enlisting the support of other nations for a free Iraq and helping Iraqis assume responsibility for their own defense and their own future."

Powell said the Bush administration is concerned that members of al-Qaida or other terrorist groups may be heading toward Iraq. "I'm not sure how large these numbers are, how significant the threat is, but we will deal with it in Iraq," Powell said on NBC's `Meet the Press."

Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, the senior Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Congress will approve the money needed to support U.S. troops, but that lawmakers want the president to tell them what his "exit strategy" is from Iraq.

Defense Department officials have said U.S. operations are costing about $3.9 billion monthly. That figure excludes indirect expenses such as replacing damaged equipment and munitions expended in combat.

Levin said lawmakers are being told that it will cost $4.5 billion a month for the military -- plus reconstruction expenses.